The present invention relates to a construction machine such as an excavator, a crawler-type vehicle, a wheeled loader or the like, comprising at least one interchangeable equipment item which is actuable by means of an electronic control, wherein the control has a control handle, preferably movable through multiple axes, in particular a joystick, for the generation of control commands for the interchangeable equipment item, wherein at least one actuation element is arranged at the control handle whose actuation is sensed by means of a sensor device and is converted into a control signal.
With earthmovers such as excavators, crawler-type vehicles or wheeled loaders, operation facilitates the control of the interchangeable equipment items, which are often movable through multiple axes, by means of a joystick likewise movable through multiple axes. A movement of the joystick in different directions effects different movements of the interchangeable equipment item and/or of the construction machine itself. The movability of the joystick itself is, however, often not sufficient to give the control the plurality of required control commands. For this purpose, DE 20 2004 004 953 U1 proposes providing an additional actuation switch to the joystick in the form of a rotatable knurled wheel which can be actuated by a fingertip of a hand gripping around the joystick. The movement of the knurled wheel, expressed more precisely of a magnet fastened thereto, is sensed by means of a Hall sensor arranged in the joystick and is converted into corresponding control signals. The insufficient sensitivity of the actuation is, however, disadvantageous with this known control arrangement. The movement of the actuation switch and its sensing moreover requires a certain space which prevents a small constructional size of the joystick on the arrangement of a plurality of actuation switches.